Ever since midterm breaks were invented, they have been a time for just getting a shipload of work done. They're not really "breaks" except in the sense that you don't have to go to class for a couple of days. Not so long ago, the midterm break was actually longer, but that's a whole other issue for another day. I hate that we've become a society that doesn't really know how to stop and stand still for five minutes. My weekends are usually busier than my weekdays. During the upcoming month of March, besides lectures, classes and seemingly countless meetings with students (and other kinds of meetings), I will be grading about 300 essays, launching a new book of fiction into the world, and judging a short story competion. March is alwys the month of madness, but this one looks to be busier than most. But I digress.
I assume most of you have been working on essays over the break, including one for my English 1101 class. I scheduled it when I did so that you would have the maximum amount of time to do your best by meeting with me and reflecting on your previous essay a bit. A lot of you did exactly that because my office was a pretty busy place in the week before the break and it will be again tomorrow and probably Wednesday.
I've already told you about how to approach each question and I've also blogged about sentence structure and general essay structure, but a lot of you still have questions about the assignments. It's hard to know exactly what you want to know, so I'll try a Q & A style approach.
Q. Do I need a title page?
A. Yes. It need not be anything fancy. Just a mostly blank page that contains a TITLE, your name, my name, the course number, and the date submitted. It would be nice if your title was something halfways creative (not just "Frankenstein Paper") but as long as it tells me what your topic is, it should be fine. Remember, it's not just "Morality," for example; it's "Morality in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." It's always about the book).
Q. How should I bind the pages together?
A. A single staple in the top left corner.
Q. How long should it be?
A. 900 words, maximum. Maximum means at the very most.
Q. What font should I use?
A. 12-point Times New Roman. No other font or size will be accepted.
Q. Should I double-space the lines?
A. Yes. (I had a student once who put extra space between words instead of between lines. Don't do that.)
Q. When I write the title of a novel, does it have to be underlined or italicized?
A. Yes. When typing it, the title of a novel or large work should be italicized. (When handwriting, the title of a novel is underlined.)
Q. How much should I revise my essay?
A. Revise it until it has no mistakes and each and EVERY sentence flows smoothly and makes complete sense. If your essay looks like a first draft (still has spelling mistakes, comma splices, sentence fragments, and follows no kind of pattern), then I'll be passing it back to you without a grade. Not many people can write a perfect first draft. At the very least, your thesis statement should be revised until it encompasses what your entire essay is about. Your topic sentences should be revised until they reflect the content of that particular paragraph.
Q.How much attention should I pay to comments about my first essay that I just got back?
A. Lots. I take a lot of time with those comments and they are not meant to pass judgement on your essay so much as to tell you what problems to look for in future essays that you write. When you've finished your essay, go back to your other one and look for the problems you had on that one. Then go through your new essay and fix those problems.
Q. Should I use quotes from the novel (Frankenstein) in my essay, and how long should they be?
A. Use quotes, but use them sparingly. They should be mostly brief--just a few words, whenever possible and your quotes should be set up properly. Don't use hanging quotes, meaning you've just taken a quote and stuck it into your essay without any kind of proper framing. Here's an example of how quotes should be set up:Victor's parents consider him their "plaything" (3).
Notice the placement of the page number and period. Notice the use of brevity in the quote itself and that it's incorporated into the sentence so that it flows smoothly and no words are wasted (900 words isn't very much if you're constantly using words, phrases, and sentences that don't need to be there at all).
If you're using a longer quote, it should look something like this: We see an undercurrent of the theme when the creature says to Victor, "'I should have been your Adam'" (95).
Always lead in to the quote by at least suggesting (if not saying outright) who is speaking. Notice also that if you're quoting dialogue, you need the extra set of single quotation marks. Also, you can lead in to a quote by using a colon.
e.g. The creature often makes allusion to the Bible: "'I should have been your Adam," he says, showing his awareness of great works of literature while displaying an understanding of his own wasted potential.
Avoid using really long quotes that take up several lines (unless you absolutely have to). The point is to analyze, not to repeat the novel word for word.
Also, and this is VERY IMPORTANT: if you use a quote of any length, make sure you follow it up with some sort of explanation as to why you're using it. Go back and look at the quote you've used and choose a key word (or phrase) or two to discuss in relation to your thesis statement and/or topic sentence. For example, in the quote above, you could discuss the words "Adam" and "should". Talk about how what that Biblical allusion means, especially as it relates to your topic. If you're trying to prove that Victor is a negligent parent, then the meaning is obvious: that Victor has created the first male of a new species and, instead of nurturing it as he "should" have (implying that he has moral obligations, according to the creature, as well as according to what Victor himself says when he is dying on Walton's ship). The creature's words suggest that he is aware of having been neglected and blames Victor for his actions. This novel is all about responsibility and neglect of those responsibilities. See how much you can get out one short quote, but especially by focusing on TWO little words ("should" and "Adam")? Always do this sort of thing with the quotes you use. You have used them as evidence and only by looking back at them closely can you SHOW why they are strong proof of your assertions. Sometimes, doing it this way can tell you that your gut feelings about the novel and about a certain quote is right on.
Q. Do I have to spell all the names of characters, titles, and places correctly?
A. Deep sigh. If in doubt, always check the book. If a name gives you some problems, check the book, just to be sure.
Q. Do I need to use a bibliography?
A. I don't expect one, but if you've used more sources than just the novel itself for your essay, the answer is yes. But this isn't a research essay. However, if you want some practice doing MLA formatting, go right ahead and show me what you can do. The worst that can happen is that I'll give you some feedback on whether or not you're doing it right.
Q. Do I need to use in-text citation (as in MLA)?
A. I won't deduct marks if you don't, but you probably should use them. "In-text citation" means giving the page number of a quote or reference within the body of your essay (i.e. in the text) as opposed to listing the page numbers in footnotes or endnotes.
Q. How serious are you about the 900-word limit?
A. Very. I rarely see an essay that can't eliminate a lot of words and phrases for the sake of clarity. If your essay goes beyond the limit even by a small amount, your content had better justify it and your essay should be devoid of clutter and redundancies.
That's about it for now. If I come up with any more things you might be wondering about, I'll blog about them later.
My best advice for now is to make sure you REVISE, REVISE, REVISE. Then REVISE AGAIN. The best work is written that way, whether it's poetry, novels, short stories, speeches, scripts, or essays. No matter how good something is when it first spills from your mind, you can always make it better. The main question to ask yourself is this: does this word or phrase express exactly what it should? (Reading it out loud might help. Scrutinize each word and sentence for clarity.)
The essays are due on Wednesday, March 2, although I am reconsidering that at the moment. Happy writing!
GC
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Grammar stuff
I apologize for not blogging more often lately. It's been a severely busy semester because of various things related to my upcoming book publication (like reading and re-reading the manuscript) and other things. The "break" wasn't really a break, but I'm sure most of you spent your time, or part of it, working as well. I hope you got some rest, though, or had some fun...or both.
This is later than usual for me, but here are some notes on the last essays you wrote in English 1101. My hope is that by explaining these to you in writing, you might be able to use the information in writing your out-of-class essays on Frankenstein.
I write a lot of commentary on these essays, and I truly hope you've read them carefully and will take the comments to heart. They are intended, not to punish you for what your essay lacks, but to suggest how you can improve your writing technique for future essays (for both English and other courses, and life in general). The next essay is due soon, and there'll be two more later in the month--an in-class on The Divine Ryans when we finish that novel, and, late March or early April, the research essay will be due. I'll be giving you the topics for the research essays next week so you can start thinking about it.
A lot of you are having problems with sentence structure, including comma splice, sentence fragment, and tense shift. Below, I've posted (re-posted, really) some suggestions about how to recognize these problems and how to fix them. I hope it helps.
First of all, I don't make these things up. Sentence fragment, tense shift, and comma splice are real words and have real consequences for your writing. You should have learned about them in high school English and/or English 1080, but either no one showed you or the lesson just didn't take. Or maybe in the time since you last wrote an essay, you forgot how to do it. That's all understandable, but what can we do about it?
First, you might notice that I used some abbreviations on your essays:
1. "T.S." means tense shift.
2. "C.S." means comma splice.
3. "S.F." means sentence fragment.
Here's what those terms mean:
1. Tense shift just means that you're switching from speaking in the present voice to speaking in the past voice. You're using "was" when you should be using "is". You're ending words in an "-ed" suffix instead of ending them in "-es" or just "s". Just be consistent. Somtimes, it's fine to use past tense, but most of the time you should consistently use the present tense when talking about fiction, as if the action were happening right now as you read it. So if you said something like "Justine caused her own death," it should read: "Justine causes her own death."
2. Comma splice means that you're joining (i.e. "splicing") together two sentences using a humble comma. The comma wasn't intended for such heavy labor. It's like using a screwdriver as a chisel. You can do it, but eventually there will be breakage. Your sentences get too long and, usually, tough to follow.
Here's how to recognize a comma splice: read what you've written on both sides of the comma; if both sides read like a complete sentence, then you've used a comma splice, which is a major grammatical error, not to mention confusing. See, a comma tells you to pause. But periods, for the sake of clarity, require you to stop. (See what I mean there in that last sentence?)
So how do you fix a comma splice, supposing you should see one?
1. Use a period and make two separate sentences.
2. Or use a semi-colon, which is designed to join/separate two complete sentences that are related to each other in thought/theme.
3. Or use a co-ordinating conjunction (e.g. “but,” “however,” “and,” “because,” and so on) and (sometimes) use a comma with it. That's probably the easiest and most common fix. You'll have to get used to recognizing comma splices in your sentences. That's the only way to eradicate the problem from your writing: practice. After a while, it will become natural. I've seen it happen for thousands of students in a matter of weeks and it can happen for you. Depends on how bad you want it.
Here's an example of a comma splice:
Comma Splice: Victor creates an ugly creature, he runs away from it in horror.
Fix: Victor creates an ugly creature. He runs away from it in horror. (Period)
Fix: Victor creates an ugly creature; he runs away from it in horror. (Semi colon)
Fix: Victor creates an ugly creature and runs away from it in horror. (Conjunction: "and")
Fix: After Victor creates an ugly creature, he runs away from it in horror. (Conjunction: "after")
3. Sentence Fragment just means that what you've said (and obviously think is a full sentence because it starts with a capital letter and ends in a period after a string of seemingly meaningful words) is not a complete sentence. It's a fragment of a sentence, a mere piece of one: a pretend sentence in disguise, and it's up to you to start recognizing its covert behaviour. It shouldn't be hanging out with the other sentences because, well, it just isn't one and it should just solve the problem by BECOMING one. Their main offense is that they just don't make sense on their own, sort of like Nick Lachey. That's how you fix a sentence fragment: either make it a full sentence by itself OR join it to the preceding clause. That's right: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Here's an example of a sentence fragment.
Sentence fragment: Elizabeth Lavenza, staying at home, much like Margaret Saville, writing letters to a man who is far away.
Looks, smells, sounds, and feels like a sentence, doesn't it? And yet, on closer look, it isn't quite complete. It needs something else, doesn't it? The sentence lacks context.
So the fix is in: Elizabeth Lavenza stays at home, much like Margaret Saville, writing letters to a man who is far away.
See the difference a simple verb can make? All I did was exchange "staying" for the verb "stays," and now it all makes sense because we can (sort of) see Elizabeth doing what we've implied she is doing. Fixing sentence fragments is usually just a matter of revising your verb (the word that implies action).
OR you could fix a sentence fragment by using a comma to adjoin the fragment to the sentence preceding it. For example, let's say you (okay, somebody else. Denial has its uses.) wrote this:
Alphonse sends Henry with him on the journey. Which shows how worried he is about Victor.
You no doubt recognize that the second "sentence" is an imposter: a mere sentence fragment.
Here's a quick fix: Alphonse sends Henry with him on the journey, which shows how worried he is about Victor.
Notice that all it takes is a simple comma (also notice that what follows the comma is NOT a complete sentence, so we haven't created a dastardly comma splice, and so everyone sleeps well).
Anyway, I hope this helps. If you're still confused, just come see me or get in touch, okay?
There's no need to feel like you're out there on your own with nowhere to turn. Help is available. :-) And my e-mail address is toll-free. Act now and you'll get free advice about plot summary (which means you're telling me what happens instead of why such details are important for your thesis). Offer available for a limited time only (till April 15, 2011).
Next time, hopefully this weekend, I'll likely be blogging about quotation methods.
Till later,
GC
This is later than usual for me, but here are some notes on the last essays you wrote in English 1101. My hope is that by explaining these to you in writing, you might be able to use the information in writing your out-of-class essays on Frankenstein.
I write a lot of commentary on these essays, and I truly hope you've read them carefully and will take the comments to heart. They are intended, not to punish you for what your essay lacks, but to suggest how you can improve your writing technique for future essays (for both English and other courses, and life in general). The next essay is due soon, and there'll be two more later in the month--an in-class on The Divine Ryans when we finish that novel, and, late March or early April, the research essay will be due. I'll be giving you the topics for the research essays next week so you can start thinking about it.
A lot of you are having problems with sentence structure, including comma splice, sentence fragment, and tense shift. Below, I've posted (re-posted, really) some suggestions about how to recognize these problems and how to fix them. I hope it helps.
First of all, I don't make these things up. Sentence fragment, tense shift, and comma splice are real words and have real consequences for your writing. You should have learned about them in high school English and/or English 1080, but either no one showed you or the lesson just didn't take. Or maybe in the time since you last wrote an essay, you forgot how to do it. That's all understandable, but what can we do about it?
First, you might notice that I used some abbreviations on your essays:
1. "T.S." means tense shift.
2. "C.S." means comma splice.
3. "S.F." means sentence fragment.
Here's what those terms mean:
1. Tense shift just means that you're switching from speaking in the present voice to speaking in the past voice. You're using "was" when you should be using "is". You're ending words in an "-ed" suffix instead of ending them in "-es" or just "s". Just be consistent. Somtimes, it's fine to use past tense, but most of the time you should consistently use the present tense when talking about fiction, as if the action were happening right now as you read it. So if you said something like "Justine caused her own death," it should read: "Justine causes her own death."
2. Comma splice means that you're joining (i.e. "splicing") together two sentences using a humble comma. The comma wasn't intended for such heavy labor. It's like using a screwdriver as a chisel. You can do it, but eventually there will be breakage. Your sentences get too long and, usually, tough to follow.
Here's how to recognize a comma splice: read what you've written on both sides of the comma; if both sides read like a complete sentence, then you've used a comma splice, which is a major grammatical error, not to mention confusing. See, a comma tells you to pause. But periods, for the sake of clarity, require you to stop. (See what I mean there in that last sentence?)
So how do you fix a comma splice, supposing you should see one?
1. Use a period and make two separate sentences.
2. Or use a semi-colon, which is designed to join/separate two complete sentences that are related to each other in thought/theme.
3. Or use a co-ordinating conjunction (e.g. “but,” “however,” “and,” “because,” and so on) and (sometimes) use a comma with it. That's probably the easiest and most common fix. You'll have to get used to recognizing comma splices in your sentences. That's the only way to eradicate the problem from your writing: practice. After a while, it will become natural. I've seen it happen for thousands of students in a matter of weeks and it can happen for you. Depends on how bad you want it.
Here's an example of a comma splice:
Comma Splice: Victor creates an ugly creature, he runs away from it in horror.
Fix: Victor creates an ugly creature. He runs away from it in horror. (Period)
Fix: Victor creates an ugly creature; he runs away from it in horror. (Semi colon)
Fix: Victor creates an ugly creature and runs away from it in horror. (Conjunction: "and")
Fix: After Victor creates an ugly creature, he runs away from it in horror. (Conjunction: "after")
3. Sentence Fragment just means that what you've said (and obviously think is a full sentence because it starts with a capital letter and ends in a period after a string of seemingly meaningful words) is not a complete sentence. It's a fragment of a sentence, a mere piece of one: a pretend sentence in disguise, and it's up to you to start recognizing its covert behaviour. It shouldn't be hanging out with the other sentences because, well, it just isn't one and it should just solve the problem by BECOMING one. Their main offense is that they just don't make sense on their own, sort of like Nick Lachey. That's how you fix a sentence fragment: either make it a full sentence by itself OR join it to the preceding clause. That's right: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Here's an example of a sentence fragment.
Sentence fragment: Elizabeth Lavenza, staying at home, much like Margaret Saville, writing letters to a man who is far away.
Looks, smells, sounds, and feels like a sentence, doesn't it? And yet, on closer look, it isn't quite complete. It needs something else, doesn't it? The sentence lacks context.
So the fix is in: Elizabeth Lavenza stays at home, much like Margaret Saville, writing letters to a man who is far away.
See the difference a simple verb can make? All I did was exchange "staying" for the verb "stays," and now it all makes sense because we can (sort of) see Elizabeth doing what we've implied she is doing. Fixing sentence fragments is usually just a matter of revising your verb (the word that implies action).
OR you could fix a sentence fragment by using a comma to adjoin the fragment to the sentence preceding it. For example, let's say you (okay, somebody else. Denial has its uses.) wrote this:
Alphonse sends Henry with him on the journey. Which shows how worried he is about Victor.
You no doubt recognize that the second "sentence" is an imposter: a mere sentence fragment.
Here's a quick fix: Alphonse sends Henry with him on the journey, which shows how worried he is about Victor.
Notice that all it takes is a simple comma (also notice that what follows the comma is NOT a complete sentence, so we haven't created a dastardly comma splice, and so everyone sleeps well).
Anyway, I hope this helps. If you're still confused, just come see me or get in touch, okay?
There's no need to feel like you're out there on your own with nowhere to turn. Help is available. :-) And my e-mail address is toll-free. Act now and you'll get free advice about plot summary (which means you're telling me what happens instead of why such details are important for your thesis). Offer available for a limited time only (till April 15, 2011).
Next time, hopefully this weekend, I'll likely be blogging about quotation methods.
Till later,
GC
Monday, February 21, 2011
The Monster Paper
I hope you’re enjoying the break from classes so far this week, although I’m sure many of you are using the time in which to catch up on assignments and reading.
In English 1101, the short out-of-class essay on Frankenstein is due on Wednesday, March 2, and I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve learned from writing your first paper. I know some people are having a tough time with this novel, but hopefully you will grow to love it for the monster that it is. My hope is that it's already beginning to make sense to most of you.
On Friday, March 4, we'll be starting The Divine Ryans, which I'm sure will feel like a breath of fresh spring air to many of you.The best way to improve on this essay is to look at my comments on your first assignments. There were certainly specific areas that I pointed out as being problematic for you; whatever they were, go over your new essay and make sure you've addressed those issues. If you haven't had time to talk to me, there's always The Writing Centre.
If you’ve been to class, especially on the day I gave out the assignments, you probably have a good idea of what I’m looking for on this essay. It’s only 750-900 words, so that doesn’t leave much room for throat clearing. Do away with phrases like “I believe” and “It is my opinion that” or sentences that say nothing specific about the novel itself. Stay focused and go through your paper thoroughly for words and phrases that don’t add much to your essay. For example, in that previous sentence, I would have eliminated “thoroughly” and changed “add much” to “contribute” so that it reads as follows: Stay focused and peruse your paper for words that do not contribute to your essay. Fact is, most adverbs are unnecessary, and many times, you can use one precise word instead of several weaker ones.
Remember to use the sort of format for essay-writing that we’ve discussed in class. Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence. Then you need evidence to support that statement. And then you need full discussion of that evidence. That’s how you get substance into your essays.
Your thesis statement (however you phrase it) will decide what is important to discuss and what you can leave out. Furthermore, your topic sentences, if focused, will provide a clear guide as to how far your discussion needs to go.
Also, if you're writing an argumentative-style paper (which is always the best way to go), make sure you've considered the counter argument. For example, if you say that Victor is responsible for the death of Justine in Frankenstein, you also need to show you’ve considered other possible culprits, such as the creature himself, society, or perhaps even William for being such a little brat. The counter argument anticipates holes in your argument. Don’t worry about highlighting the weaknesses in your claims; I’ll see them regardless. The best thing to do is to show that you’re smart enough to have considered the counter-points and that is why you’ve made the conclusions you have.
As you write, remember to include appropriate details from the novel and show that you are able to make connections to the other most important images, scenes, and/or symbols for the topic you’ve chosen. For example, if you’ve chosen to talk about Elizabeth, you must surely make direct reference to her own words as they appear in her two letters to Victor, as well as to Victor’s own specific observations about her. There is more you could say, but I don’t see how you could avoid focusing on the key scenes or moments related to your topic.
Similarly, if you were discussing Victor and Walton, you should obviously make direct reference to certain parts of their conversations with each other. It only makes sense. If it’s Alphonse you’re interested in, then compare him, at least briefly, to other father figures in the novel while also paying attention to his own words, either in dialogue or letter.
In other words, focus on the most obvious and most important moments; suggest what they indicate about the character. Discuss it as a “symbolic moment” or discuss the character as being symbolic of some major concept that is part of Shelley’s authorial agenda.
I hope this helps somewhat. More to come, if time allows. But I expect you’ll be fine on your own, if only because this essay is so short, and all you have to do is focus on solid analytical discussion, using details from the novel to support your ideas.
See y’all soon.
GC
In English 1101, the short out-of-class essay on Frankenstein is due on Wednesday, March 2, and I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve learned from writing your first paper. I know some people are having a tough time with this novel, but hopefully you will grow to love it for the monster that it is. My hope is that it's already beginning to make sense to most of you.
On Friday, March 4, we'll be starting The Divine Ryans, which I'm sure will feel like a breath of fresh spring air to many of you.The best way to improve on this essay is to look at my comments on your first assignments. There were certainly specific areas that I pointed out as being problematic for you; whatever they were, go over your new essay and make sure you've addressed those issues. If you haven't had time to talk to me, there's always The Writing Centre.
If you’ve been to class, especially on the day I gave out the assignments, you probably have a good idea of what I’m looking for on this essay. It’s only 750-900 words, so that doesn’t leave much room for throat clearing. Do away with phrases like “I believe” and “It is my opinion that” or sentences that say nothing specific about the novel itself. Stay focused and go through your paper thoroughly for words and phrases that don’t add much to your essay. For example, in that previous sentence, I would have eliminated “thoroughly” and changed “add much” to “contribute” so that it reads as follows: Stay focused and peruse your paper for words that do not contribute to your essay. Fact is, most adverbs are unnecessary, and many times, you can use one precise word instead of several weaker ones.
Remember to use the sort of format for essay-writing that we’ve discussed in class. Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence. Then you need evidence to support that statement. And then you need full discussion of that evidence. That’s how you get substance into your essays.
Your thesis statement (however you phrase it) will decide what is important to discuss and what you can leave out. Furthermore, your topic sentences, if focused, will provide a clear guide as to how far your discussion needs to go.
Also, if you're writing an argumentative-style paper (which is always the best way to go), make sure you've considered the counter argument. For example, if you say that Victor is responsible for the death of Justine in Frankenstein, you also need to show you’ve considered other possible culprits, such as the creature himself, society, or perhaps even William for being such a little brat. The counter argument anticipates holes in your argument. Don’t worry about highlighting the weaknesses in your claims; I’ll see them regardless. The best thing to do is to show that you’re smart enough to have considered the counter-points and that is why you’ve made the conclusions you have.
As you write, remember to include appropriate details from the novel and show that you are able to make connections to the other most important images, scenes, and/or symbols for the topic you’ve chosen. For example, if you’ve chosen to talk about Elizabeth, you must surely make direct reference to her own words as they appear in her two letters to Victor, as well as to Victor’s own specific observations about her. There is more you could say, but I don’t see how you could avoid focusing on the key scenes or moments related to your topic.
Similarly, if you were discussing Victor and Walton, you should obviously make direct reference to certain parts of their conversations with each other. It only makes sense. If it’s Alphonse you’re interested in, then compare him, at least briefly, to other father figures in the novel while also paying attention to his own words, either in dialogue or letter.
In other words, focus on the most obvious and most important moments; suggest what they indicate about the character. Discuss it as a “symbolic moment” or discuss the character as being symbolic of some major concept that is part of Shelley’s authorial agenda.
I hope this helps somewhat. More to come, if time allows. But I expect you’ll be fine on your own, if only because this essay is so short, and all you have to do is focus on solid analytical discussion, using details from the novel to support your ideas.
See y’all soon.
GC
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Writing on The Road
If you’re in my English 1101 class, you’re writing an essay on the novel, The Road, tomorrow (Wednesday).
Some of you have expressed concern about how much harder it might be to write about a full-length novel as opposed to a short story or a poem (as in English 1080). It probably is a little more difficult in some ways, but in other ways it’s possibly even easier. With a short story, of course, there are only so many of pages of material that you have to deal with, and with a poem there’s usually no more than a single page to contend with. The problem with that, of course, is that sometime it’s hard to come up with enough to say: you’re limited by the brevity of the short story. Granted, a skilled and experienced thinker and writer can find a lot to say about just about anything. But in first-year university, such skills haven’t necessarily been developed fully. The novel, by virtue of its length, might be a bit of a godsend to some of you because there’s so much more to talk about. There should be no shortage of scenes, characters, and images to discuss.
The concern usually is, “How can I write about something so big in such a short period of time?” It starts with making sure you can articulate the answer to the questions: What is this novel about? What are the main issues? What are some scenes and images that will allow me to talk about those issues? (Try answering those questions for yourself, in writing. Make lots of notes.)
You’re obviously not expected to write about every part of the novel. But you are expected to write an organized response to the question. Your essay should show that you’ve seriously considered the bigger issues of the novel by considering some of the subtleties of language, scenes, and images. It all becomes “symbolic” by virtue of it having implications that are bigger than itself. The image of “the road,” for example, in and of itself is small and yet connected to much larger ideas. The road is obviously symbolic of where the man and boy are going. So your next question is: Where are they going? I don’t just mean that in a literal sense. I mean, yes, the literal journey is important and you should show that you know that. But you should also show that you know how to draw implications from what you are given.
So the man and the boy are headed south. They are driven by something, driven out of the safety of their home by something. They are searching for something. On the road, they encounter something and someone. They are afraid of certain things, of certain people, and these objects and people represent what the world has become.
From there, it is quite simple to draw connections to the larger issues of the novel: identity, the loss of a sense of place and security (think of the map that the boy is trying to read as if the states actually existed, the constant references to lost transportation systems, and so on—the road is, in fact, representative of that lost system, among other things). So much has been lost. I won’t list it all. But on that road, they keep to the straight and narrow, trusting in it, believing (because they have to) that it will lead them somewhere. If you can connect these ideas to our discussion of God and the need to have faith in something, to decide what matters, and what the apocalypse has done to the world’s notions of “important,” then you are on your way to being able to answer each and every question you’ll be presented with, both tomorrow and for the final exam.
If you were in class on Monday, you already know what the questions are, and you’ll know that I’ve given you an idea of how to approach each one. All three questions ask you to delve into similar ideas. For example, your sense of right and wrong gives you something to believe in and decides what kind of person you are. That’s only the beginning, but I’ll leave it up to you to flesh out the argument. I don’t want you simply to repeat what you’ve been told. I want you to tell me what YOU see when you look into this novel. When you go through the novel, which scenes and details or bits of dialogue stick with you and make you think about things? What kind of things? What’s it all about, according to YOU? Forget I’ve said a word about any of it. Look at it fresh. Go through the novel. Make your own notes. Make your own assessments, and come up with an idea of what you think it’s all about. Of course, keep this other stuff in mind, but don’t go repeating a word of it unless you’ve actually come to believe it and can articulate for yourself, in your own way. Maybe you can even add to it. There’s lots left to be said. Some of it I’ve left open intentionally. Some of it, I just didn’t have time to touch. Either way, do your best to be original.
You’ll have 50 minutes to write the essay. Try to remember the basic guidelines of essay writing you (hopefully) learned in English 1080. This one is meant to be a diagnostic, to give me an idea of where you stand. We’ll take it from there. But I promise that, if you’re willing to give it an honest try, we can make you a better writer by the end of the semester.
Beyond that, I’m not sure what else you need to know in order to write the essay. Come early, if possible. Be on time at least. Get comfortable in those uncomfortable seats. I’ll bring the paper and a sheet with the questions on it. You choose to do one of them.
The trick, I think, is to make a lot of notes for yourself and then put them away and close your book: see how much you can remember.
Try to recall a list of key, related ideas you want to discuss (God, names, identity, place, good and bad, and so on).
Then, try to recall a short list of key scenes or images you want to apply to these ideas (the image of the road, the sextant, the thief that they leave to die naked, the nearly-blind stranger with whom they have a long, philosophical discussion, the people that the man kills, and so on).
There’s so much you could discuss. When you get in the exam room and are given your paper, write your list out and then make some notes on the list so that you won’t get stuck. Then write out three or four major topics that you want to cover in separate paragraphs. That should help. This is advice only for those of you who want it. Some of you have your own ideas that work for you and you should go with that, as long as it truly does work.
Good luck tomorrow. I’m rooting for you. The questions are designed to allow you to tell me what you know. I want you to succeed on this essay and every essay.
But that depends on you. Success comes with preparation. You even have a better chance of being lucky if you’re prepared. So know the novel, remember your key words and scenes, and have at it.
GC
Some of you have expressed concern about how much harder it might be to write about a full-length novel as opposed to a short story or a poem (as in English 1080). It probably is a little more difficult in some ways, but in other ways it’s possibly even easier. With a short story, of course, there are only so many of pages of material that you have to deal with, and with a poem there’s usually no more than a single page to contend with. The problem with that, of course, is that sometime it’s hard to come up with enough to say: you’re limited by the brevity of the short story. Granted, a skilled and experienced thinker and writer can find a lot to say about just about anything. But in first-year university, such skills haven’t necessarily been developed fully. The novel, by virtue of its length, might be a bit of a godsend to some of you because there’s so much more to talk about. There should be no shortage of scenes, characters, and images to discuss.
The concern usually is, “How can I write about something so big in such a short period of time?” It starts with making sure you can articulate the answer to the questions: What is this novel about? What are the main issues? What are some scenes and images that will allow me to talk about those issues? (Try answering those questions for yourself, in writing. Make lots of notes.)
You’re obviously not expected to write about every part of the novel. But you are expected to write an organized response to the question. Your essay should show that you’ve seriously considered the bigger issues of the novel by considering some of the subtleties of language, scenes, and images. It all becomes “symbolic” by virtue of it having implications that are bigger than itself. The image of “the road,” for example, in and of itself is small and yet connected to much larger ideas. The road is obviously symbolic of where the man and boy are going. So your next question is: Where are they going? I don’t just mean that in a literal sense. I mean, yes, the literal journey is important and you should show that you know that. But you should also show that you know how to draw implications from what you are given.
So the man and the boy are headed south. They are driven by something, driven out of the safety of their home by something. They are searching for something. On the road, they encounter something and someone. They are afraid of certain things, of certain people, and these objects and people represent what the world has become.
From there, it is quite simple to draw connections to the larger issues of the novel: identity, the loss of a sense of place and security (think of the map that the boy is trying to read as if the states actually existed, the constant references to lost transportation systems, and so on—the road is, in fact, representative of that lost system, among other things). So much has been lost. I won’t list it all. But on that road, they keep to the straight and narrow, trusting in it, believing (because they have to) that it will lead them somewhere. If you can connect these ideas to our discussion of God and the need to have faith in something, to decide what matters, and what the apocalypse has done to the world’s notions of “important,” then you are on your way to being able to answer each and every question you’ll be presented with, both tomorrow and for the final exam.
If you were in class on Monday, you already know what the questions are, and you’ll know that I’ve given you an idea of how to approach each one. All three questions ask you to delve into similar ideas. For example, your sense of right and wrong gives you something to believe in and decides what kind of person you are. That’s only the beginning, but I’ll leave it up to you to flesh out the argument. I don’t want you simply to repeat what you’ve been told. I want you to tell me what YOU see when you look into this novel. When you go through the novel, which scenes and details or bits of dialogue stick with you and make you think about things? What kind of things? What’s it all about, according to YOU? Forget I’ve said a word about any of it. Look at it fresh. Go through the novel. Make your own notes. Make your own assessments, and come up with an idea of what you think it’s all about. Of course, keep this other stuff in mind, but don’t go repeating a word of it unless you’ve actually come to believe it and can articulate for yourself, in your own way. Maybe you can even add to it. There’s lots left to be said. Some of it I’ve left open intentionally. Some of it, I just didn’t have time to touch. Either way, do your best to be original.
You’ll have 50 minutes to write the essay. Try to remember the basic guidelines of essay writing you (hopefully) learned in English 1080. This one is meant to be a diagnostic, to give me an idea of where you stand. We’ll take it from there. But I promise that, if you’re willing to give it an honest try, we can make you a better writer by the end of the semester.
Beyond that, I’m not sure what else you need to know in order to write the essay. Come early, if possible. Be on time at least. Get comfortable in those uncomfortable seats. I’ll bring the paper and a sheet with the questions on it. You choose to do one of them.
The trick, I think, is to make a lot of notes for yourself and then put them away and close your book: see how much you can remember.
Try to recall a list of key, related ideas you want to discuss (God, names, identity, place, good and bad, and so on).
Then, try to recall a short list of key scenes or images you want to apply to these ideas (the image of the road, the sextant, the thief that they leave to die naked, the nearly-blind stranger with whom they have a long, philosophical discussion, the people that the man kills, and so on).
There’s so much you could discuss. When you get in the exam room and are given your paper, write your list out and then make some notes on the list so that you won’t get stuck. Then write out three or four major topics that you want to cover in separate paragraphs. That should help. This is advice only for those of you who want it. Some of you have your own ideas that work for you and you should go with that, as long as it truly does work.
Good luck tomorrow. I’m rooting for you. The questions are designed to allow you to tell me what you know. I want you to succeed on this essay and every essay.
But that depends on you. Success comes with preparation. You even have a better chance of being lucky if you’re prepared. So know the novel, remember your key words and scenes, and have at it.
GC
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